A DISCOURSE __ 

ON 

THE STATE AND PROSPECTS 

OF 

AMERICAN LITERATURE 

DELIVERED AT SCHENECTADY, 

July 24th, 1821, 

BEFORE THE NEW-YORK ALPHA 

OF THE 


SOCIETY. 


BY THE HONORABLE 

SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, M.D. LL. I). 

$c. $c. 



ALBANY : 

PRINTED BY WEBSTERS AND SKINNERS. 

At Uteir Bookstore, in the White House, corner of State and Pearl Streets. 





































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At the Anniversary Meeting of the New-York Alpha of 
the Phi-Beta-Kappa, July 24, 1821, 

It av vs unanimously besolybd. That the thanks of 
this Society he presented to the Hon. Samuel L. Mitcu- 
ill M D. LL. D. &C. &c. for his learned and eloquent 
oration'this day delivered by him at their request; and 
Resolved, That the Rev. John Chester and the Rev. 
Samuel Blatehford, D. D. be a committee to wait upon 
Dr. Mite hill with this resolution, and request of 
copy for the press. 

Attest, 

F. WAYLAND, Jun. Rec. Sec’y- 

The undersigned have the honor to present the above 
resolution, and heg leave to urge upon you a compha 
with the earnest wishes of the Society. 

JOHN CHESTER, 
SAMUEL BLATCHFORD. 


Y 


Hon. Dr. Mitcmll. 












































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19 

















































A DISCOURSE, Ac. 


Mr. President—Gentlemen : 

There is something peculiarly agreeable in 
meeting the patrons and favorites of literature on 
this auspicious occasion. The season is favoura¬ 
ble. The physical elements are properly appor¬ 
tioned and arranged. The moral world enjoys a 
repose, which until latterly, had been denied it, for 
more than twenty years. Enough of contending 
nations, and of sanguinary conflicts ; of the eleva¬ 
tion and fall of sovereigns and of states, has been af¬ 
forded, to satisfy if not to sate the strongest appe¬ 
tite. With the termination of those grand and in¬ 
teresting exhibitions, we necessarily lose the occu¬ 
pation and the entertainment they afforded. We are 
now invited to another spectacle ; though less mag¬ 
nificent and imposing than Europe has presented. 
It is the calm and deliberate survey of ourselves. 
When there are no battles or conflagrations abroad to 
excite our curiosity, there may be leisure, and per¬ 
haps, inclination, to examine our condition at home. 

A time of peace gives scope and room for such 
inquiries. Preparations are making for a conven¬ 
tion to amend the political constitution of the com¬ 
monwealth. It may be rationally expected, that in 
addition to the security of our rights and privileges, 


6 


and die more satisfactory distribution of the powers 
of the government, care will be taken to promote 
the great interests of that sound learning which has 
a direct connection with the public happiness. 

During the transatlantic commotion, numbers of 
valuable articles were driven to our shores. Book¬ 
sellers brought their literary stock, and enabled us 
to furnish our shelves, with productions, that in the 
usual course of orders and importations, would 
have taken a much longer time to reach us. By the 
sequestration of voluminous libraries, some of their 
good materials have found their way hither. Un¬ 
der the pressure, or persecution of the times, many 
accomplished men seized, when on the point of 
emigration, such literary and scientific treasure as 
they could bring along. In the course of these 
events, coins, medals, statues, paintings, and the 
choicest works of art, have been introduced. Above 
all, men have been introduced, many of whom vis¬ 
it our land temporarily, while others have chosen 
it as the place of their permanent abode, adding 
thereunto the invaluable account of their knowledge 
and acquirements. The storm from the east, has 
wafted, in short, an abundance of precious things 
to these western regions. We read that on the 
overthrow of the Byzantine empire, the stores 
of learning were distributed over Italy and upon all 
the places with which Venice, Florence, and Rome 
had connection. History also teaches us, that the 
tyrannical cruelty of the ruling powers in France 


7 


and Belgium, compelled the fugitive to seek an 
asylum in milder governments. So at a more re¬ 
cent period, suffering humanity has sought a shel¬ 
ter, with all it could bring of mind and of property, 
in the United States. The acquirements and the 
skill, the •'aos ptctxxvct, of the more accomplish¬ 
ed emigrants have gready overbalanced the idle¬ 
ness and vice of others. 

Should illustrations be demanded I am ready to 
shew, that the manufacture of types, the use of them 
in printing, the preparation of paper and the labours 
of authorship, have all been promoted by intelligent 
foreigners who have settled among us. It would 
be quite as easy to point out the places they 
have held and now worthily occupy in our seats of 
learning. And their example and influence in their 
professional and other situations, have materially 
contributed to the advancement of literary and sci¬ 
entific objects. 

By these observations I do not intend to over¬ 
look or undervalue the native genius of my coun¬ 
trymen. Acute, industrious, inventive, versatile, pa¬ 
tient, enterprizing and calculating, as the case re¬ 
quires, they are capable of excelling in every thing 
they undertake. 

It might have been expected that among the 
powers vested in congress, there would have been 
found a provision for public instruction, either di¬ 
rectly expressed or fairly implied. The opinion 
of several patriotic men has been given warmly in 


favour of some such institution. Congress, how* 
ever, has been uniformly opposed to every such 
measure. In 1806 , the senate of the United States, 
when the person before you had the honour of be¬ 
ing one of its members, rejected a bill for establish¬ 
ing a national academy, though earnestly solicited 
by Joel Barlow. In 1811 , a select committee of 
the representatives’ house reported by a majority of 
five over two, against the project of a national uni¬ 
versity, though recommended by the president in 
his message. And in 1810 , a bill which was re¬ 
ported to that body, for a national observatory, was 
suffered to expire under the order of reference to a 
committee of the whole ; the house steadily refus¬ 
ing to resolve itself into such a committee upon 
the bill. It seems now to be understood, that en¬ 
actments by congress for purposes of this kind ought 
to be limited to the district over which their exclu¬ 
sive jurisdiction extends. 

Yet, it must not be understood that the national 
legislature frowns upon learning. On the contra¬ 
ry, under its generosity, more has been done for 
the furtherance of knowledge than is generally sup¬ 
posed. 

The military academy, at West-Point, within the 
state of New-York, is an important school for gym¬ 
nastic and mathematical, as well as for other exer¬ 
cises. In a healthy situation, amidst sublime and 
picturesque scenery, and on ground rendered fa¬ 
mous by revolutionary events, a portion of the most 


9 


promising youths we can boast, learn modern liter¬ 
ature and science ; and form at the same time, 
habits of diligence, temperance, obedience and 
quiet, under able instructors. The library and ap¬ 
paratus, provided at the public charge, are exceed¬ 
ingly valuable. From this seminary, have proceed¬ 
ed a full proportion of able officers ; who whether 
acting as military architects or topographical engin¬ 
eers, have displayed talent, done credit to them¬ 
selves, and widened the circle of information. 

Under the act for enabling the president to ex¬ 
tend the external commerce of the United States, 
the act for causing a survey to be made of Long- 
Island sound ; the act authorizing the coast of 
North Carolina to be surveyed ; the act direct¬ 
ing a survey of the whole coast, on the atlantic bor¬ 
der ; and the act for carrying into effect the provi¬ 
sions of the Ghent treaty in relation to boundaries 
on the Canadian frontier, many substantial additions 
have been made. The expeditions under the per¬ 
severing Lewis and Clarke, across the continent to 
the vast western ocean ; under the learned Dunbar 
toward the head-waters of Wachitta ; and by the 
gallant Pike in quest of the sources of the Missis¬ 
sippi and the Arkansaw, will reflect lustre on the 
administration of Jefferson, and his minister Dear¬ 
born, long after the party-virulence and scandal of 
the day shall be consigned to their merited oblivion. 

It would be improper to omit, on this occasion, 
the series of scientific operations under Governor 




10 


Cass to the unfrequented regions washed by lakes 
Michigan and Superior, and watered by the streams 
running through the lands situated southward and 
westward of those capacious reservoirs ; and under 
Major Long to the rivers that feed the greedy Mis¬ 
sissippi, by order of the enlightened Calhoun, the 
secretary at war. They and their learned associates 
have enlarged our knowledge of North America in 
a thousand important particulars. 

In the midst of all these proceedings, the exer¬ 
tions of a foreign government, to cultivate the natu¬ 
ral sciences in the United States, deserves to be ho¬ 
norably noticed. The monarchy of France, wield¬ 
ed by the 16 th Lewis, the first and fastest friend 
of these nascent states, patronized and employ¬ 
ed the two Micheauxs. To them, the worthy fa¬ 
ther, and the no less worthy son, we are indebted 
for a correct description and systematic arrange¬ 
ment of the forest trees, and other plants which di¬ 
versify and distinguish this quarter of the globe.— 
But that sovereignty is not satisfied with the inves¬ 
tigation of our botany. Our zoology, since the days 
of Gordon and Linneus, had attracted the notice of 
Schaepf, Barton, Box, and a few others, who made 
excellent beginnings. The amiable and charming 
Wilson, who could soar on the wings of Pegasus, 
has figured and described our birds in his Ameri¬ 
can ornithology. Another citizen, who unsuccess¬ 
fully aspired to the distinction of riding like Arion, 
on the dolphin’s back, has attempted an essay on our 


11 


ichthyology. Still our country is rich in new and 
undescribed animals. Louis the XVIIIth has un¬ 
dertaken to investigate them. Through his minister 
plenipotentiary, the erudite and accomplished Ne¬ 
ville, and the president of his scientific academy, the 
far-famed La Cepede, his majesty has signified his 
intentions. The constellation of worthies who ad¬ 
minister the king’s museum and garden, are busily 
engaged in researches touching the history of the 
animals inhabiting our land and our waters. By 
the industry and talents of Milbert and Le Sueur, 
every creature they can find is described, figured, 
dissected, and where judged expedient, sent dead 
or alive to Paris. No expense is spared. Nothing is 
left unexplored that they and their assistants can 
achieve. That government considers the cultivation 
of these sciences as a matter of a highly serious na¬ 
ture. The book of directions for travellers and 
persons employed in the colonies, extends to 
nearly forty pages in quarto. It was compiled by 
the gentlemen who have the administration of the 
king’s museum of natural history, at the request of 
the minister of the marine, and may therefore be 
considered as a great state paper. Their zoologi¬ 
cal researches are not confined to the beings actual¬ 
ly alive. They extend to the races supposed to be 
no longer inhabitants of this world ; to the departed 
tribes whose remains are only found in the layers of 
our soil and rocks. Such organic relics have been 
significantly denominated the medals of nature ; 


12 


by the reading and interpretation of which, we gain 
curious information concerning the beings who 
have preceded us in this sublunary abode; and 
who, after having fulfilled the purposes of their cre¬ 
ation, exist no more, and are known to us only by 
their shells, bones, teeth, and other parts that have 
resisted the agents of destruction. 

The grand features of our geology had been ably 
depicted by Maclure ; but the subject of organic 
remains, which required more elaborate investiga¬ 
tion than he could bestow, was left for his success¬ 
ors. And this department of the science, which 
can be fully disentangled and elucidated by zoolo¬ 
gy alone, is actually in a train of prosperous devel- 
opement. 

We see thus the assistance which has been af¬ 
forded to our literature and science by the persons 
whom the general government has employed, by 
emigrants from foreign parts, and by the agents of 
a powerful and friendly sovereign. But before I 
proceed any further, I crave the permission to state 
how the rags of Europe aid the cause of learning in 
America. Some years ago it was made known to 
me, in my capacity of chairman to the standing 
committee of commerce and manufactures in the 
house of representatives, that certain paper-mills 
were standing still, not through lack of capital, but 
for want of stock. So much greater was the con¬ 
sumption of paper in this community of readers and 
writers, than the amount of raw material, that I 



13 


carried up the report, since enacted into a statute, 
recommending an exemption from impost, for all 
rags whatsoever. By this proceeding, I sometimes 
thought I rendered more service to learning, to free¬ 
dom and the press, than by all the other doings of 
my life. 

From the view that has been taken, we learn, 
that the several states are the great seats of litera¬ 
ture and science in the United States ; and in these, 
the efforts are made partly by public endowment, and 
partly by private munificence. There will be de¬ 
light and edification in recounting a few particulars* 

It has been asked, what are the encouragements to 
learning, afforded by congress, in the disposition of 
the public lands through the extends d territories of 
the west ? The answer is so honorable and satisfac¬ 
tory, that every freeman will rejoice to hear it. 

The section No. 16 , in every township, as we 
are told by the learned and patriotic commissioner 
of the general land-office, is, by law, reserved for 
the support of schools. The southeast corner of 
that section is the centre of each township. More 
than sixty million acres have been laid out. One 
thirty-sixth part of sixty millions, is one million 
six hundred and sixty-six acres, reserved for the 
aforesaid purpose. 

That this statement may be comprehended, it 
may be proper to observe, that a township is a 
square, whose sides (limited by true meridians and 
parallels to the equator) are each six miles long, 
B 


14 


making an area of thirty-six square miles. In a 
township, there are thirty-six sections of one mile 
square. A township contains twenty-three thous¬ 
and and forty acres ; and consequently a section 
consists of six hundred and forty acres. A quarter 
section makes a farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres. 

The section No. 16, will unquestionably be re¬ 
served in all future sales of the public lands. For 
colleges and seminaries of a higher grade than 
schools, thirteen whole townships have already been 
granted to Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere. 
Thirteen townships are equal to two hundred and 
ninety-nine thousand five hundred and twenty acres. 
It may be expected the same legislative liberality 
will be extended to all future territories and states. 
Two hundred thousand acres were, by special pro¬ 
vision, (of April 18, 1806) appropriated to colleges 
and academies in Tennessee alone. 

In the state of Ohio, the thirty-sixth part of the 
surveyed portion (_yh of 14,400,000 acres) amounts 
to four hundred thousand. The progress of popu¬ 
lation and settlement has long ago given to No. 16 
a value of at least four dollars an acre. Whereby 
it appears that at a low appraisement, the consecrat¬ 
ed lands in that commonwealth alone are worth one 
million and six hundred thousand dollars. They 
may be fairly rated higher; for there are instances 
in which the sixteenth section would sell for twen¬ 
ty or even thirty dollars an acre. 


15 


This generosity is honorable to the nation. Free¬ 
dom is the destiny and birth-right of this people. 
To be free, there must be instruction, information, 
knowledge; and to attain these, time and an ex¬ 
emption from labor are necessary. The provision 
made by the bounty and foresight of our general 
government will secure that enjoyment to the latest 
posterity, or as long as the possessors shall consider 
it a blessing. History furnishes nothing similar to 
this. 

Let us next look at the literary and scientific 
exertions in the respective states. 

In New-York, our own happy republic, legisla¬ 
tive patronage has been great and reiterated. The 
grants to the learned and thriving seminary, under 
whose auspices we are now assembled, have chang¬ 
ed the residence of the Mohawks into a seat of use¬ 
ful and elegant learning. And the structures, the 
libraries, the apparatus, and every thing that I dis¬ 
cover, evince that the trustees of Union College 
have been good stewards of the funds entrusted to 
them. The amount of money and lands given to 
the regents of the university, and to various col¬ 
leges and academies, including the medical estab¬ 
lishment at New-York city, evince public spirit 
and generosity of an exalted character in the legis¬ 
lature. To all which is to be added the fund for 
the better support of common schools, producing 
an annual income of 80,000 dollars. 


16 


It ought to be said, and I seize the opportunity 
of repeating a sentiment, frequently uttered before, 
that our rulers have clone worthy and noble things. 
And, if the persons who are called to execute trusts, 
and to perform the duties of instructors, will, by 
their exertion, care and ability, carry into complete 
effect the intentions of their patrons and benefac¬ 
tors, every thing substantial and every thing orna¬ 
mental that comes within the scope of the general 
instruction, befitting our age and country, must is¬ 
sue like rills from our seminaries, and irrigate eve¬ 
ry corner of the republic. 

Connecticut is entitled to the merit of providing 
for elementary as well as for collegiate instruction. 
Her sagacious and intelligent statesmen knew the 
importance of enabling the citizens to understand 
their duties and rights; to keep a book of accounts; 
to vote at elections, and to read the old and new 
testaments. And they further understood the va¬ 
lue of that more extended and diversified course 
which embraces the languages spoken in ancient 
days, and in distant lands ; the properties of matter, 
which, by investigation, give rise to physical sci¬ 
ence and to the chemical and mechanical arts ; and 
also, the rules of reasoning, whereby man discov¬ 
ers that he is not only an intellectual, but an ac¬ 
countable creature. In all these ways, they gradu¬ 
ated education to the situation and condition of the 
seeking individual; and set admirable examples to 
the neighboring states. 




17 


In Massachusetts, solicitude for the interests of 
learning is nearly coeval with the commonwealth. 
There the alma mater at Cambridge, was protect¬ 
ed in a peculiar manner by the constitution. A 
well administered charter not only received the fos¬ 
tering care of the general court, but donations of 
money, books, specimens and apparatus, from liberal 
individuals, to a number and to an amount which no 
other institution can boast. By her encouragement 
and support, her sons go forth like bees from the 
hive, and ranging over the fields of learning in both 
hemispheres, return loaded with the rich sweets 
they have gathered. I feel proud in mentioning 
such acts of public spirit; and prouder in owning 
my conviction, that they have already added to the 
talent and virtue of the age. 

In the other parts of New-England we behold 
the rulers and the people, also making efforts to ac¬ 
cumulate, diffuse and perpetuate knowledge.— 
Rhode-Island, New-Hampshire and Vermont, have 
their respective institutions for promoting litera¬ 
ture and science; under which geometry, rhetoric, 
poetry, oratory and history, are studied in the writ¬ 
ings of the great masters which Greece and Italy 
produced; and the other branches of knowledge, 
according to the most approved models and autho¬ 
rities. 

.New-Jersey has contributed a just proportion to 
the elegant and useful learning of the age. For 


18 


among the alumni of her colleges, are some of the 
most accomplished and patriotic of our citizens. 

In Pennsylvania, the fact of newspapers, alma¬ 
nacks and advertisements, published in German, 
proves the attention, by the present generation, to 
the language of their forefathers. While the Friends 
and the United Brethren, make exertions in their 
several ways. By these and by other societies and 
individuals, instruction is afforded in various modes* 
from the Madrass or Hindoo method of exercising 
the pupils in sand, to the elevated contemplations 
of philosophical societies. 

Look to Delaware and Maryland, and behold the 
progress and spread of knowledge from the Atlan¬ 
tic ocean to the Allegany mountains. The Chesa¬ 
peake, on both its shores, exhibits establishments 
for instruction, creditable to their founders and in¬ 
structors. It is remarkable, however, that its ben¬ 
efits are too generally withheld from the sable va¬ 
riety of the human race. The negroes and their 
descendants are doomed to an inferior station among 
us. Degraded to the condition of chattels, they 
have lost, in a considerable degree, the character 
of persons. The white master claims a superiori¬ 
ty in rank and blood, in capacity and talent, in 
complexion and feature, over his black slave. The 
ascendancy he has gained, he is determined to main¬ 
tain. If slaves are sent to school, there is a posi¬ 
tive expense, and a loss of productive labor. There 
is besides an acquirement of knowledge that unfits 


19 


him for servitude. Man has been prone, in all 
ages, to submit to the dominion of his fellow crea¬ 
ture. This subserviency existed in ancient times, 
and among the most distinguished nations. For it 
is not correct to affirm, that one subjugates the ma¬ 
ny ; but that the mul titude acquiesce in the gov¬ 
ernment of the few. There is something in the 
negro temperament that gives up to the dominion 
of others, more readily than any people that mingle 
with us. Unhappily that abject and abused race 
has been introduced; and in some parts is so con¬ 
nected with agricultural labor and profit, that there 
is no prospect of its speedy removal. In the diffi¬ 
cult case which this sort of slavery produces, it may 
be expected the principal part of these low individ¬ 
uals will be kept in alienism and ignorance. It is 
not so, however, with the persons of colour, living 
to the northward of the states now under consider¬ 
ation. There, where few or no slaves exist, the 
children of blacks may receive instruction as well 
as the offspring of the whites. In some places there 
are schools for their particular tuition—where the 
children shew a capacity equal to the descendants 
of Europeans. 

But why should I enlarge ? Virginia in addition 
to her former exertions, is now engaged with am¬ 
ple funds and talents, in the erection of an universi¬ 
ty upon an extensive and modern plan. South Car¬ 
olina has already done the like, with an endowment 
worthy of her wealth and her spirit, Georgia h^s 


20 


been worthily occupied in a similar work, and made 
useful and honourable progress. And the univer¬ 
sity of Transylvania, seems really, by the celerity of 
its rise, and the numbers which it attracts, to have 
surpassed the expectations of its own friends in 
Kentucky. 

I congratulate you on the growing attention and 
care bestowed upon the instruction oi ladies. The 
Christian religion confers upon woman, the consid¬ 
eration, due to her condition. In our own coun¬ 
try, the decorum of the times places her very high 
in the rank of social beings. I consider the land we 
inhabit as that in which the fair sex, upon the whole* 
enjoy more solicitude, affection and sentimental 
regard, that in any other. And so they ought. 
From our mothers and nurses we learn the earliest 
and most impressive lessons of our lives. It is un¬ 
der their tuition, the plastic constitution of infancy, 
and the docile temperament of childhood, receive the 
moulding or bias. And with this, a most interesting 
period of life, and I may say of education, they are 
delivered over to male teachers. Even then, how¬ 
ever, female precept and example continues its influ¬ 
ence ; and the pedagogue and the professor have 
but a divided empire over the mind. I argue from 
this, the importance of female education. As we 
value right impressions, correct notions, and just 
habits in early life, let us take a corresponding care 
of the persons who are the chief instruments in 
forming them : It strikes me as a matter of the ut¬ 
most moment. 


21 


Think of the characters that may be impressed 
on a tender mind after having been soothed by 
words like these. 

Soft, my babe, l did not chide thee 
Though my song might sound too hard j 
*Tis thy mother sits beside thee 
And her arms shall be thy guard. 

It may be expected they will be indelible and 
will last for life. By all means then labour to ren¬ 
der them fair and good. 

The schools of medicine now flourishing in dif¬ 
ferent cities, are highly characteristic of the times. 
Education to that profession includes a considerable 
share of learning, as well as of natural science. 
The curative, the operative and the doctrinal 
branches are taught with the requisite ability. The 
diseases of mind and body are profoundly studied. 
The virtues of remedies and their manner of pro¬ 
ducing changes in the symptoms, are as particular¬ 
ly investigated. The bedlamite ; the patient con¬ 
suming with fever or tortured by pain ; the suffer¬ 
er by casualties and way-faring accidents ; the 
lame, the blind, and the disabled of every kind, are 
the objects of prescription and regimen. Such 
indeed is the supply, that every family ; yea, more, 
every individual, may enjoy the comfort of being 
attended by a competent member of the healing art. 

Another memorable establishment of the age, is 
the American Bible Society, with its auxiliaries. 
Through their intrumentality the written revelation 
from Heaven, through Moses, and the prophets; 
C 



22 


and by Christ Jesus, his disciples, apostles, evan¬ 
gelists and other servants, is sent forth far and wide 
among the people. These books of inspiration may 
be perused at home, as well as at church. Their 
contents may claim the study of the solitary seeker 
no less than of the public preacher. The pages 
containing the amazing truths of immortality and 
eternal life are displayed before the eyes of every 
reader. There he learns that existence here is but 
a prelude or preparation to another and different 
state hereafter. 

The freedom of the press is the passport to 
knowledge as well as the safeguard of liberty. It 
is so secured by the constitution that nothing can 
shake it, save such a tremendous commotion as 
shall overthrow our social fabric. It is curious to 
witness the many new devices which the mechan¬ 
ical genius of our people has contrived. Deter¬ 
mined to amend to the uttermost the typographic 
art, they are incessantly exercising their invention to 
perform better work, or to save time and labour. 
There is no department of business, where the pro¬ 
gress of improvement, by means of the presiding 
head and the executing hand, pleases me so much as 
in this ; because I perceive in it the determination 
to enjoy liberty, and the method of perpetuating it to 
our most distant successors ; but I discern more. 
A free people ought to be a wise and a virtuous peo¬ 
ple. A free press affords them opportunities of at 
once enlarging the understanding and bettering the 
heart. Happy the land, whose inhabitants cultivate 


morality and piety, while they become adepts in 
physical and natural things ! 

The general Post-Office deserves to be specially 
noticed on this occasion. It puts as it were into 
the hand of every citizen, a speaking-trumpet, 
through which he may address any person whom he 
pleases within our widely-extended domain, and 
even beyond its limits. The length of road over 
which the mail is conveyed, is greater by far, ccete - 
ris paribus , than in any other country. The fre¬ 
quency of deputy post-offices is more than in any 
other government. The post-masters themselves, 
eminently partake of the intelligence they receive 
and distribute. The celerity of the transmission is 
truly admirable, whether accomplished by that most 
useful of all drudges, the horse, or by the enormous 
yet manageable power of steam. And the cheap¬ 
ness of the charges affords facilities to literary and 
scientific communications, which ought to make eve¬ 
ry votary of both wish duration to a government 
which may be said to give feet to knowledge and 
wings to learning. 

What in the whole circle of civilization equals 
the number of gazettes or sheets of information 
published in our land ? The ancients, the Greeks 
and Romans, for example, among whom manu¬ 
scripts, and those few and costly too, could be pro¬ 
cured by the wealthy only, were obliged to learn 
events and opinions from noisy rhapsodists, so¬ 
phists and declaimers. Printing has, in a great de¬ 
gree, superceded the functions of these persons; 


24 


and the eye is substituted for the ear. By a very 
curious transfer of a function from one sense to an¬ 
other, we now discourse as familiarly of seeing the 
news, as our predecessors did of hearing it. A mo¬ 
dern reading-room is a practical exercise upon the 
principles; where, during profound silence, the 
organs of sight derive ideas of words and of things 
from the cut and lettered leaf, and convey them di¬ 
rectly to the seat of thought. 

It is by virtue of the vicarious duty performed 
in this manner, that schools have been established 
in this and several other states, for those individuals 
of our race, amounting, according to a very proba¬ 
ble estimate, to one or two thousand, who are deaf 
and dumb. In these seminaries, you see the per¬ 
severing benevolence of our citizens. Not satisfi¬ 
ed with affording instruction to the individuals who 
can hear and speak, they are determined to convey 
it to the sensorium that is inaccessible to sound. 
If there is an obstacle that professional skill can re¬ 
move, it will be taken out of the way. If the im¬ 
pediment is insuperable, the road will be made to 
bend round it. Beautiful is the turn, where a per¬ 
fect sense accommodates the imperfect, and like an 
open highway or avenue in the neighborhood of an¬ 
other, rendered impassible by excavations made, or 
bridges removed by the floods, performs the ser¬ 
vice of two roads, and allows double travelling to 
be done. By such an arrangement, by a route some¬ 
what more circuitous, but safe and good, ideas 
reach the mind; and carry the warmth and radiance 


25 


of information to the darkened soul. This resolu¬ 
tion to instruct the deaf and dumb, is strongly sig¬ 
nificant of our people, who will never feel satisfied 
until every citizen capable of being taught, shall 
know his rights as a man, and his duty to God. 

More has been achieved. The zeal for enlarging 
and cultivating the mind, has reached the indigen¬ 
ous man. The benefits of instruction have been 
tendered to the Lenni Cennapi, the Mingoes, and 
other native tribes. How pleasing to behold a Gam- 
bold and her husband gathering the little Cherokees 
into a school-house, and explaining to them the 
meaning of letters! How interesting the labors of 
Hawkins, to reclaim the half naked and famished 
Muskogees, by teaching them the arts—how to 
raise cotton; how, by the successive operations of 
the cards, the spindle and the shuttle, that soft and 
filamentous production can be converted into cloth ; 
how the scissors, the needle and the bodkin are em¬ 
ployed ; the harmonious effect of musick, and the 
decorous association of the sexes in the figured 
dance ; the comfort derived from holding lands, to 
some extent at least, in severalty; of having a fix¬ 
ed abode; of cultivating bread-corn and grasses; 
and rearing and multiplying the animals who will 
contribute their strength, and, when needed, their 
lives to man ! What amiable traits of disposition 
mark the missionaries, who, failing the aborigines 
to comprehend our language, compose a spelling 
book and translate the psalter into their own! Go 
on, good men, to teach our red brethren, tillage and 


26 


the care of cattle. Where the furrowed land shows 
the dominion of the plough, and the fleeced sheep 
the careful application of the sheers, there is enough 
to persuade us that they who have travelled thus 
far, will not stop until they have reached a much 
higher stage of refinement. 

Here, however, another and an enchanting scene 
discloses itself. A compendious, and cheap manner 
of instruction, which differs almost as much from 
the old plan as wholesale does from haberdashery, 
or the maneuvers by regiments from the individual 
drill. This is the result of a happy disposition and 
classification ; as a part of which the active faculties 
of the pupils are engaged as far as practicable, and 
the passive and drousy course superceded. Atten¬ 
tion, and memory and obedience and method, are all 
put in requisition. Idleness and playfulness and mis¬ 
chief are instantly detected. The school of Lancas¬ 
ter may be compared to a machine that saves labour, 
time and material ; performing much work in a 
rapid manner, with small waste. By the introduc¬ 
tion of a just economy, signal advantages accrue. 
Or it may be illustrated by the analogy of the solar 
system : for the master is the sun or great centre ; 
the monitors are the planets receiving from him 
their power and influence ; while the children are 
the satellites obeying the direction and impulse 
communicated by their respective secondary orbs. 
All the parts are so connected as to make a well 
ordered whole.—As far as the mode can be applied, 
it is admirable. They who take elementary les- 


27 


sons in this way, will generally acquire the aptitude 
to learn much more. And, as schools of this class 
are powerful aids of a free press, I consider them 
eminently useful in laying the foundation upon 
which rational liberty rests. 

The place upon which this city (Schenectady) 
stands, furnishes an ample theme for contemplation. 
Here, and in the region situated to the westward, 
lived the once formidable confederacy of the Iro¬ 
quois, of whom the Mohocks were the most distin¬ 
guished. They appear to have descended from 
the Tartars of Asia ; and by gradual approaches 
from the shores of Alaska to have reached the coun¬ 
try situated south of the great lakes. They brought 
the complexion, features and manners of their an¬ 
cestors, and even their dogs are of the Siberian 
breed. They are called Indians either because they 
resembled the inhabitants of India, or because they 
were supposed to have descended from India. Be¬ 
tween these ferocious hordes, and the white settlers 
on the other, the unfortunate Delawares, who were 
probably tinctured with Malay blood, were beaten as 
metal between the anvil and hammer, or broken to 
pieces, after the manner of grain betwixt the mill¬ 
stones. Yet, in this very spot, where barbarous, 
and even cannibal rites have been performed, Sche¬ 
nectady soon arose, and in less than two centuries 
has grown to its present population and wealth. 
Schenectadea , or the pine-wood landing ; Cohoke - 
sackie , or the land of owls ; Senagahat , or the 
stingy road ; C'anajoharie, or the place where the 


28 


water of the creek whirls like the simmering of a 
cauldron over the fire ; Kahohalatea y the river 
since called Hudson ; Ogknarvanagantle , the spot 
where we are now sitting ; Tioghsaronde, the place 
where rivers or streams empty into others, and Can - 
neoglononitade , the river that glides along toward its 
precipice at the Cohos, are a few of the appellations 
that remain. Attiaox , or the destroyer of castles, is 
the name given to your orator on his reception among 
the Onondagas, as an adopted brother. The his¬ 
torian traces with seriousness the spot where the 
pious Barclay strove to win the savages to his mild 
religion ; where the politic Johnson enlisted them 
against the hostile arms of France ; and where the 
patriotic Herkimer and his detachment were sur¬ 
prized and slain. So scanty and evanescent are the 
vestiges of these events, it is a matter of no incon¬ 
siderable research to find them out. 

And this is no subject for wonder. Instead of 
dwelling on the past time, we are engaged more 
profitably in the present. Lo ! where that noble 
edifice towers above the river and the plain, and 
opens its doors to all qualified persons who seek 
admission. Come, sons and heirs of freedom and 
learning, and imbibe the sentiments befitting your 
high destiny, from their pure source. Drink your 
fill of this delicious draught, and if your appetite 
should not be satiated, drink again. You will find 
it more invigorating and exhilarating than the nec¬ 
tar and ambrosia, celebrated in your books. Alma- 
mater will love and cherish her children during life; 


29 


and will honour their memory after departure. 
From her, they will receive, whatever they wish, 
that invaluable medicine, the iatpikh, 0 r 

physick for the soul. 

The season, almost the year in which we live is 
distinguished by the voluntary establishment of an 
academy for language and belles-letters. Its offi¬ 
cers are some of the most learned and virtuous of 
our citizens, throughout the union. The consti¬ 
tution and design are liberal. The premiums al¬ 
ready offered for certain elementary essays and 
tracts are calculated to stimulate research and eli¬ 
cit talent. Should this association succeed in com¬ 
piling a correct dictionary and practical grammar 
of our actual language, they will have done well. If 
they shall possess authority enough to settle the le¬ 
gitimacy, orthography and pronunciation of words, 
they will attain a very important object. No soci¬ 
ety, of the kind ever accomplished so much. 

As a practical illustration of my theme, the fra¬ 
ternity to whom I have the delight of discoursing, 
is gathered under the wings of their affectionate par¬ 
ent. The scene brings to my recollection, things 
long forgotten,, or buried deep under the mass of 
recent occurrences. Once more I ascend Acrapo- 
lis and survey Athens stretching between its long 
walls to the Pirceus. Attica lies in broad and cul¬ 
tivated expanse around me ; where by night the 
bird of Minerva proves by his shout that he watch¬ 
es while other creatures are asleep ; an d by day, 
the heedless peasant is with difficulty induced to in* 
D 


30 


dicate the field of Marathon, where the Persian in¬ 
vaders were destroyed. Plato, sublime and ardent, 
yonder instructs his academics in the grove. Ze¬ 
no, proud and lofty, teaches the stern doctrines of the 
porch to his stoics. Aristotle, extraordinary indi¬ 
vidual, who to almost unparalleled industry united 
singular opportunities, walks the border of the Ilis- 
sus, attended by his peripatetics. Pinder’s odes on 
the public games.of Greece, come unbidden to my 
mind. Demosthenes utters vehement orations to 
the assemblies, before the charge was made, that 
his voice pretended to have been impaired by a 
quincy, was in reality silenced by a bribe from Ec- 
batara. The speech of Paul, the zealous, the acute 
and intrepid, in the Areopagus, rushes upon me, 
with a sort of instant vibration.—I endeavour to 
banish these thoughts, but find it impossible, until 
I shall have observed Socrates, a moralist more pure 
than prudent, expiring under a dose of poisonous 
hemlock ; and Aristides, just as he was, so tena¬ 
cious of popularity, that he preferred ostracism to 
voluntary retirement. 

In the hyperbole of Milton, the eloquence of 
those days, 

Wielded at will the fierce democracy, 

Shook the arsenal; thundered over Greece 
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes* throne. 

Horace, on the Grecian models wrote, 

Nocturna versate m mu, versate diurna. 

It is yours, gentlemen of the Phi-Beta-Kappa, to 
be distinguished by these attainments ; which ex- 


31 


alt their possessor in the moral and intellectual con¬ 
sideration. As much will you labor to excel in el¬ 
egance and taste. You will add the t« x-penov to the 
to KULKOV, and embellish right with decorum. You 
will practice the art of giving to your words the 
force of laconic brevity, or the poignancy of attic 
salt. With philosophy at the helm, you will navi¬ 
gate in safety the ocean of life. 

It is a matter of peculiarity and regret, that as yet 
our country and people, have no proper geographical 
names. United States is a political term, and de¬ 
pends upon the duration of the connection. Unit¬ 
ed States of America is now equally applicable to 
the confederacies of the south. Columbia is as¬ 
sumed by the independent governments rising north 
of Guiana and Brazil. Anglo-American is too 
broad, and applies equally to the Canadian and 
West Indian settlements. As the national govern¬ 
ment has hitherto neglected this important subject, 
it may be worth the while for literary men to pro¬ 
pose a name, and recommend it to the people for 
adoption. 

Permit me, after having uttered these sentiments 
on the past and the present, to offer a few conject¬ 
ures on the future. You may term them, if you 
please, phantasms of the sight or idols of the brain, 
(QccvTctrpctTce. kui eidaxoc) yet I take delight in indul¬ 
ging them. 

Ten millions and upwards of freemen are now in 
the possession of a government, prepared by them¬ 
selves. This, as it is composed of a constitution 


32 


and statutes, treaties and resolves, they can alter 
and amend according to their sense of propriety. 

Within a term of twenty-five years or less, the 
number of people will amount to twenty millions 
or more, trained to inveterate habits of liberty, al¬ 
most as hard to change as their physical organiza¬ 
tion. They all speak, and will continue to speak, 
the English tongue. This, though formerly re¬ 
stricted to the British islands, has become one of 
the most important vehicles of intelligence. Its va¬ 
lue will grow with our numbers. Authors, wheth¬ 
er in prose or poetry, may rejoice that their Eng¬ 
lish compositions will be extensively understood 
without a translation. Was Alexander Pope alive, 
here among us now, he would feel no regret that 
the verses to which he had entrusted his fame, were 
written in a dialect understood by so small a por¬ 
tion of the human race. 

In this language is recorded as much knowledge 
of things important for man, as in any other, much 
more than in most. The ease of communicating 
with the English nation and their books, places us 
in a situation greatly preferable to that of speaking 
a different tongue ; for every chapter and sentence 
is perfectly accessible. With this vast advantage, 
it becomes me to mention, the improved intercourse 
between the two hemispheres. The line of packets 
between New York and Liverpool constitutes a 
very important link in the chain of modern improve¬ 
ments. These admirable ships may be considered 
as making a more complete connection between the 


33 


different parts of the civilized world, than has ever 
been achieved, or could be effected in any other 
way. Great, intelligent and enterprizing, the Eng¬ 
lish and their allied nations, present us a thousand 
matters worthy to be learned or imitated. I think 
the Anglo-Saxon blood, some ofthe best in Europe. 
It is one of the instances of my good fortune to be 
tinctured with it. I like myself the better for such 
lineage and descent. 

A radical similarity in their laws ; the principles 
of representation ; the elective franchise ; the trial 
by jury, in civil as well as in criminal cases; the 
right of bearing arms ; the freedom of conscience, 
not by toleration, but by religious equality ; the 
love of reading and the curiosity for news ; a defer¬ 
ence to the rights and opinions of others, accom¬ 
pany these citizens in all their wanderings and loca¬ 
tions. 

As the forest yields to fire and steel, roads, bridg¬ 
es and canals pervade the land, rendering intercourse 
safe, cheap and easy. Social feeling is thereby 
sustained ; man becomes better acquainted with 
his fellow-creature, and a stranger ceases to be 
viewed as an enemy. Produce is conveyed more 
conveniently to market. Mutual dependences cre¬ 
ate the means as well as the desire of satisfying mu¬ 
tual wants. A common interest pervades society; 
and the different members become so braced and 
dove-tailed together, that it is difficult or impossi¬ 
ble to separate them. The canal connecting the 


34 

ocean with the lakes outdoes the enterprizes of 
Egypt and France. 

A solemn regard to the education of their off¬ 
spring will accompany them wherever they go.— 
The rudiments of beneficial literature and art, 
will be instilled early into their minds. The or¬ 
namental branches in due season and progression. 
High science will gradually succeed. Every ve¬ 
getable will respond to its name, and tell its excel¬ 
lent or noxious qualities. Ores and rocks shall 
rise from the bottom of the mine and descend from 
the top of the mountain, and arrange themselves in 
museums. The species of the animal race shall ap¬ 
proach and ask the lord of the soil to notice and 
know them. Even the extinct and nameless be¬ 
ings entombed in antedeluvian graves, or embalm¬ 
ed in the catacombs of nature, shall undergo a res¬ 
urrection and be enrolled in history. The traces 
of human labour and settlement left by the vanish¬ 
ed nations who have preceded us, will court delin¬ 
eation and description. It would scarcely be saying 
too much, if I should represent the roaming beasts 
under some modern Orpheus, laying aside their 
savage tempers ; the stones under a new Amphion 
piling themselves into walls ; the wilderness under 
the Ceres of the west transforming itself into Sicil¬ 
ian farms and gardens ; and our citizens, under abler 
legislators than Solon and Lycurgus, associating 
themselves into states. 

In orderly and rapid succession, the mill, the 
school house, the court house, and the church. 


35 


show themselves in selected spots. As soon as cir¬ 
cumstances permit, the academy, the college and 
the university follow. In some of these, your 
Phi-Beta-Kappa will be adopted by the candidates 
for exalted scholarship and pre-eminent attainments 
in classical learning. A beginning will be made, 
as in your own example, with Alpha. But I see, 
or seem to see, the societies, as they are instituted 
one after another, taking their title from the succes¬ 
sive letters of the column, until they arrive at Ome¬ 
ga. Every where will appear the mighty march of 
mind. The grand destiny of this people disregards 
the misrepresentations of the ignorant, the perver¬ 
sions of the prejudiced, and the calumnies of the 
envious. Let one foreign dunce abuse us in his 
book; and another applaud it in reviews: They 
do us no harm. They but prove their own lowness 
and insignificancy. So have I seen too sturdy bee¬ 
tles in a path, boring the ground and stealing mai 
nure. They roll with peculiar art—one pushing 
and the other pulling, their new-made ball, which 
is precious above all things to them. The former 
considers the damage too trifling for resentment; 
and although he could crush the vermin with his 
foot, permits them to live, proud and happy, in their 
filthy employment. Thanks to Luther and th& 
other protestants, for the religious emancipation of 
a portion of the human race. From that portion, 
the people of these United States have principally 
descended. The perfection of their civil liberty 
proceeds from the same source. Where a hierar- 


36 


WimSi ° F INGRESS 


0 017 166 979 0 


cliy prevails, there is little room for a democracy. 
Speculate as we will on the efforts to establish free¬ 
dom where the Greek and Roman churches have 
sway, daily observation teaches, that the revolution¬ 
ists, though they may be very good Christians, are 
very indifferent republicans. I would therefore ad¬ 
vise them, as a hearty well-wisher to their cause, to 
begin their noble schemes of revolution by adopt¬ 
ing the reformed religion. 

Finally. I see correct morality accompanying in¬ 
creased knowledge. My definition of a devil is, 
“ a rational being destitute of virtue.” The prince 
of devils is distinguished from the rest, by possess¬ 
ing superior intelligence, without moral principle. 
Man resembles the infernal spirits when lie culti¬ 
vates understanding at the expense of the heart. 
He approaches celestial perfection, by adding good¬ 
ness to greatness. This mixture of qualities digni¬ 
fies our nature. The time is approaching, when 
vices shall be less frequent and glaring ; when mis¬ 
demeanors shall be the consequence of mistake, 
rather than of perverse intention; and when crimes 
shall be avoided from their ugliness as well as their 
turpitude. 

Hasten, O come quickly, thou season of expecta¬ 
tion, when the proficients in benign letters and arts, 
doctors of philosophy, with harps and timbrels in 
their hands, and with crowns of bay and glory on 
their heads, shall, during their stay in this world., 
experience a true foretaste of the next! 


